Preceptor-Patron Relationship Between Genghis Khan and Sakya Translator’S Introduction

CHAPTER FOUR

PRECEPTOR-PATRON RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GENGHIS KHAN AND SAKYA TRANSLATOR’S INTRODUCTION

The chapter opens with a discussion of the life of Genghis Khan (1162– 1227), his rise to power, his family’s conquests, and the emergence of a relationship between Mongolia and Tibet . Here, Shakabpa begins to unfold the central argument of the book. He recounts the events that led to the creation of the preceptor-patron (mchod gnas dang yon bdag) relationship that he sees as animating the rest of Tibetan history. According to this view, in the thirteenth century, the great Tibetan lama Sakya Panḍ ̣ita (1182–1251) and the powerful conquering Mongolian Goden Khan (d. 1253)—grandson of Genghis Khan and youngest son of Genghis Khan’s successor Ugotai Khan (1186–1241)—formed a special formal relationship that was repeated and deepened by Sakya Panḍ ̣ita’s nephew Pakpa Rinpoché (1235–1280) and Kublai Khan (1215–1294) the next great Mongolian leader. This potent bond was based on the lama serving as the spiritual guide and preceptor of the khan, while the khan played the role of the protector and patron of his lama. When Pakpa Rinpoché provided Kublai Khan with particular religious teachings in the middle of the thirteenth century, the khan reciprocated by giving him a series of lavish gifts, as was customary. Significantly, one of these gifts was the entirety of Tibet , which had only recently submitted to Mongol rule at the urging of Sakya Panḍ ̣ita. According to Shakabpa, Tibet was autonomous from that point, not even being required to pay tribute to the Mongolians.a As Shakabpa sees it, the essentially religious preceptor-patron relationship continued henceforth to describe the actual bond between a free and independent Tibet and the paramount political power in Asia, either the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty (1279–1368), to a lesser degree the Chinese Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), or the Manchurian Qing Dynasty (1644–1911). When Chinese historians claim that Tibet was assimilated

a See p. 219 below. 200 chapter four into China, they are, according to him, failing to understand these basic historical facts at any point throughout history. The chapter recounts Tibetan history throughout the remainder of the Yuan Dynasty during which the Mongols ruled China. By the end of that era, even the Mongols in China, having become thoroughly sinified, had lost all interest in Tibet , while a well-established Tibetan ecclesiastical government ruled the land. Könchok Gyelpo (1034–1102) founded Sakya Monastery in Tsang in 1073, and his heirs, both monks and laymen, continued to lead the monastery up to the present time. He was a member of the well- established Khön clan, an extended family thought to have divine origins and a history as advisors to kings in the imperial period. By the time the leadership of Sakya passed through the family to his great grandson, Jetsün Künga Gyeltsen or Sakya Panḍ ̣ita, Genghis Khan was the most dominant ruler in Central Asia. Tibet formally submitted to Mongolia and paid the requisite tribute in order to avoid being invaded and destroyed. However, after his death in 1227, Tibetans stopped transmitting the payments that Genghis Khan’s heirs continued to expect. Consequently, Goden Khan attacked Tibet, causing significant destruction in Central Tibet. The khan also issued an invitation to Sakya Panḍ ̣ita to visit Mongolia. Although he was already in his sixties, Sakya Paṇḍita agreed to go, taking with him his nephews, ten-year-old Wönpo Pakpa Lodrö Gyeltsen and six-year-old Chakna (1239–1267). Sakya Paṇḍita did much to promote Buddhism among the Mongols, and his work was carried forward by his nephew Pakpa Rinpoché who established a preceptor-patron relationship with Kublai Khan, or Sechen Gyelpo (se chen rgyal po), as he is called by Tibetans. This relationship was of particular importance to the fate of Tibet because Kublai Khan con- quered China and became the first emperor of the Yuan Dynasty . His support of Pakpa Rinpoché brought greater attention to Tibetan Bud- dhism and established him and the Sakya School as potent forces in Tibet. When a lama transmits precepts to a disciple, it is customary for the student to offer gifts in accordance with their capacity; Kublai Khan offered the entirety of Tibet as one of these gifts to his preceptor. Moreover, Pakpa earned the concession from Kublai Khan that in religious contexts, the khan would take a seat on a lower throne than the lama. Shakabpa takes these facts to be significant evidence that the relationship between Mongolia and Tibet was purely religious, and that Tibet was entirely independent at this time. In 1254, Kublai Khan